Frugal Veggies: Green Beans

As mentioned in my previous post outlining My Modern Frugal Kitchen, I menu plan and base meals around seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables.  As we move toward spring and summer, one of the items that will start appearing in gardens and farmers markets are green beans. Green beans are quite versatile and I like adding them to soups and stews to increase the vegetable content, like in Mexican chicken soup.  In addition, I like cooking them slightly, still tender-crisp and serving in salads.

The recipe below incorporates a number of principles that I use including trying out ideas from international cuisines.  It is a salad simplified from the traditional Indonesian vegetable salad with peanut sauce known as gado-gado.  I try to use everyday ingredients, most of them reasonable cost.  In addition the dish relies on the savory taste of peanut butter, chile sauce, and lime juice. A range of different raw vegetables or leftover cooked vegetables can be added. By using boiled eggs or tofu, the dish makes a nice vegetarian lunch:

Indonesian-style gado gado salad
serves 2

2 cups of green beans, blanched
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 cup of shredded cabbage
1/2 cup of shredded carrots
1 cup leftover boiled potatoes, cut into cubes
1/2 cup cucumber, cut into slices
2 boiled eggs
1 block of baked pressed tofu, cut into cubes (optional)
4 cups of mixed salad greens

dressing:
1/2 cup of chunky all natural peanut butter
2 T red wine vinegar
1 T honey
1 T hot chili sauce (like Sriracha or sambal olek)
2 T soy sauce
3-4 tablespoons hot water

Prepare dressing by heating peanut butter and honey in the microwave or over a bowl of hot water to soften, stir in the other ingredients and incorporate a small amount of hot water until it is thoroughly mixed but still thick.

Place the salad greens on two plates and place the vegetables, eggs, and tofu in piles on the greens.  I prefer to serve the dressing as a dip in small bowls on the side, but you can also toss the salad and pour some dressing over the top.

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